The Power of a Positive Attitude

"Grudge not against one another, brethren, lest ye be condemned..."  James 5:9

When my maternal great grandmother gave birth to my grandmother she took her into a field and left her.  A short time later my great grandfather found my grandmother lying there in the field and took her home to his mother and she raised her.

Years later when my great grandmother grew ill it was my grandmother who helped to take care of her until the day she died.

I was very young at the time, and I did not know the story of what had happened to my grandmother when she was born, but I did know much about my grandmother's gift for nurturing and that she loved her mother dearly in spite of being abandoned in a field at her birth. I got to see my great grandmother a few times before she died, and I was always amazed by the interaction the took place between mother and daughter.  I could see that my grandmother loved her mother.

My grandmother was a woman of faith.  Yes, there were times in her youth that she stirred up trouble. You see, she had blond hair and beautiful green eyes.  She was a beautiful woman inside and out.  Later, I would come to know some of the trials that she suffered in her life, but through all of them I could see that she remained a person of faith.  In spite of her trials my grandmother was a free person.  Her faith was a model to me.  (Thank you, Nanny).

She was an example to me of this provocative verse.  In the Greek Text the first word is not 'grudge, but a tiny word that means 'no' or 'not.'  It means the prohibition of an attitude.  The word 'grudge' is an imperative and means to stop at once an attitude that is not consistent with faith.

In this text 'grudge' means groaning, to sigh, grief, or murmur.  The apostle James knew that the community cannot be whole if there is a spirit of disapproval therein.

As we go on through this verse James is unrelenting in his assertion. He uses the intensive prefix 'kata' before the words "...one another..." in the text.  The prefix kata means down and toward and this is added to the prohibition 'not 'at the beginning of the verse. James is identifying the power of a negative attitude to infect the community.  Think of what a negative attitude can do to a relationship, family, school, or business.

Let me encourage you today to develop the habit of a positive attitude.  A positive attitude will turn your life around.  It changes the energy that comes from you because your heart is at peace.  The mind is very powerful.  Believe that God can give you a positive attitude.  A positive attitude begins with the volitional decision to make substantive change happen.  Where do you really want to go in life?  Who do you really want to be?

In the Scriptures, the primary example of the volitional decision to love is the Iesous.  We read that the tax collectors and the common people loved him too. They could see that he loved  and they were attracted to his love for people.  They had lived under the unmerciful judgement of others for years.  They had lived under the oppressive rule of their own negative attitudes toward themselves for years.

The Iesous did not oppress others with a negative attitude designed to slay self-esteem, and self-worth.  His love set them free from chronic and insidious negativism.

Grudge not, beloved is a imperative statement because I am tied to my judgement of others.  I may have the illusion that I am not tied thereby, but it is merely illusion held aloft by the winds of fantasy.  My attitude either ties me up or sets me free. To hold a grudge imprisons my life too.  Listen to the roof brain chatter that goes on within one's own soul when one holds a grudge against another.  There is no freedom.  Herein one is spiritually confined until the grace of release is extended to the 'other.'  Beloved, live for God today and talk to him about the grudge in your heart.   Tell him that you want to be set free.

Blessings to you today.

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